


Guilty Conscience

by Queerquest



Series: Kyalin oneshots [16]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Kya, lin is a softie, slight drug usage (it’s just cactus juice), slight mention of death, weapons mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 09:22:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29715048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queerquest/pseuds/Queerquest
Summary: After the death of a few of her co-workers after a traid raid gone wrong, Lin has to work through her guilt over the loss. Luckily, Kya is there to help guid her through the process.
Relationships: Lin Beifong/Kya II
Series: Kyalin oneshots [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2145681
Comments: 1
Kudos: 47





	Guilty Conscience

"Let me help, Lin." Kya murmured, pulling the Earthbender's uniform off of her and guiding her into bed.

They had just gotten back from the hospital. After a long day of busting triads, Lin had decided along with her crew to do one more bust before clock out. From what the Waterbender heard practically everything went wrong after that.

She thanked the spirits Lin came out with nothing more than a couple scratches and a few broken ribs. A pang of guilt coursed through her when she remembered how badly some of the other officers were injured and even…

"Do you wanna talk about it?" she whispered, as she felt a damp puddle on her shoulder appear.

"No." the officer sighed, turning away so that Kya wouldn't see her crying. 

Lin felt a kiss to her bare shoulder that made it difficult for her tense body to remain as such. leaning into Kya's touch seemed to be the only thing that felt okay or right in the whole world.

"That's okay. I'll be right here if you need anything."

Silence filled the air, Kya rubbed circles into the Earthbender's back without question. Knowing that was one of the things that soothed her the most, after all that she went through that day she deserved that at least. Deserved to feel safe and loved in her own house, Kya would have done anything to make that her reality.

"Could you set my alarm." Lin sighed, "Please?"

"You won't need it. I had the guys at the station give you a couple days off." she whispered.

"What?!" she whispered, turning around to look at Kya in the face. "Why would you do that? Now I have to call them and tell them I'm coming in tomorrow." Lin grumbled.

Her attempts to get up were quickly met with a shooting pain in her side. Cautiously, she laid back down onto the bed. Feeling utterly defeated and looking to her wife for help.

"Can you call them?" Lin pleaded.

Just as she thought she would, Kya refused. The Earthbender wasn't really sure why this was so important to her, she just didn't want to sit at home all day reflecting on what happened. Work was her distraction and spirits, did she need to be distracted right now.

Besides it didn’t feel right taking a break from work. Not when there were people dead, and a new ongoing investigation with no leads or suspects. She had to do something, needed to help or at the very least offer up something in return for their sacrifices.

"Why not?" she whined once again, no longer caring about how emotionally charged she sounded. She was tired, overwhelmed, and it felt like everything was falling apart.

"I'm not punishing you baby." Kya murmured, pulling her in closer by the waist. "You have broken ribs, you just went through a traumatic event. You need a few days to recuperate. Just a few okay? I promise."

"They had kids." Lin whimpered. "They all had kids, all three of them." she repeated again and again as if it were some sort of sick mantra.

Kya let her cry on her shoulder, ramble on about how guilty she felt, how she thought of those boys as her own children until she eventually gave into sleep. Peaceful and quiet steady breathing for the first time since they walked in the door. The Waterbender continued to rub her back until she, too, fell asleep.

The night was anything but peaceful, Lin awoke with nightmare after nightmare either drenched in sweat tears or a mixture of both. It was late, maybe two or three in the morning when Kya suggested cactus juice to help her calm down after more than a couple onslaughts of constant night terrors.

To her surprise the Earthbender didn't fight, or tell her no. Just weakly nodded her head. Kya gave her a small cup of the juice they kept in the top shelf of their cabinets for special occasions. Such as when; usually Kya was particularly stressed out. The drug worked its course fairly quickly. By the time Kya cleaned up the dishes and put the bottle back in its place Lin was lying quietly on the bed. One arm draped over Kya’s side of the bed as if she had been waiting for her.

"You okay?" Kya asked.

"You look pretty." Lin answered with a dorky grin as Kya joined her in bed once again.

"Well. I guess the stuff kicked in good" she thought to herself, relieved that Lin was relaxed enough that she could even crack a small joke.

"Says you." the Waterbender sneered. "Come here. You need rest." she whispered once again.

Lin adjusted herself so that her head rested against Kya's chest. Listening to the sounds of her lover breathing as she dozed off. Even though Kya was extremely tired as well she couldn't let herself fall asleep until Lin did, she wanted to make sure she felt safe until the very moment she fell asleep. And in that she succeeded.

Lin awoke to the sun shining on her face every morning, but this time the curtains were pulled in front of the windows making the room a bit darker than she was used to. She stretched a bit, letting out a small yawn and reaching over to Kya's side of the bed. 

The mattress on her side was still warm and there was an indent indicating someone had been there recently. "Kya?" she called out into the open air, with no response.

She lifted her body upward slowly, opting to ignore the pain in her sides and stood up on the floor. Using the wall as a balance to help her stay upright as she walked down the hall towards the kitchen.

"Kya?" Lin shouted once again. 

Kya peaked her head around the corner, doing a double take when she saw Lin up and around.

"I thought you'd be out for at least another hour. How do you feel?" she asked as she helped her sit on the couch, then quickly returned back into the kitchen grabbing coffee and making the Earthbender some breakfast.

"I feel better. I think." she answered.

"Here, make sure you eat." Kya ordered as she handed her the plate filled with some of her favorite foods. "I'm gonna go clean up the kitchen. If you need anything just let me know okay?" she informed, while helping her wife get comfortable on the couch.

Lin nodded and slowly started eating her food, she didn't have much of an appetite but she didn't want to worry Kya more than she already was. Besides, it wasn't everyday Kya took the time to make her all of her favorites.

"Do you want seconds?" The healer asked after taking her empty plate, and sticking the dish in the sink once she saw Lin nod her head 'no'.

After a little while the Earthbender found her head laying in between Kya's legs as the Waterbender played with her hair. They settled on watching a mover, one of Bolin's to be exact Lin would never admit it but she secretly loved watching 'The Adventures of Nuktuk'. A fact about her that only Kya would ever be allowed to know.

She wasn't sure exactly when it happened, or even why but soon enough all the emotions she had felt last night were flooding back in. Maybe she could stop the tears that were attempting to break through her closed eyelids but she couldn’t stop the sudden hitch in her breath that notified her lover that something was wrong.

Thankfully, Kya was prepared. She knew how the Earthbender operated and was there waiting for the other shoe to drop. Waiting until Lin needed her, and was willing to accept, her help.

“Hey, hey it’s okay.” she whispered, kissing the Earthbender’s forehead and pulling her rigid body into her arms. “Everything’s alright.”

“Is it? It’s not fair.”

“It’s not. But I have to believe everything will be alright. Because there are people like you who care so much in this world.” Kya murmured.

“They didn’t even use bending. The people who killed him- there was just a loud bang and when we got to him he was bleeding.” Lin whispered. “We don’t have any reliable witnesses and nobody has any idea what could have caused that kind of damage.”

“You are also a top-notch detective, working with other top-notch detectives, not to mention you’re a Beifong; not that it would make any difference. You’ll figure everything out after you heal.” 

“but you have to let yourself heal.” Kya added sternly.

“You think so?” 

“I don’t think. I know.” Kya said in a purposefully comedical voice.

Luckily for her the Earthbender couldn’t help but slip out a laugh. The first one in a long time, because as always Kya was right. Everything would be okay, as long as they were there to care for each other.


End file.
